McDonogh 35 guard George Brock finished with 21 points to lead the Roneagles to a 70-61 victory over O. Perry Walker on Tuesday. (Andrew Lopez, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

With a shot at first place in District 9-4A on the line, McDonogh 35 came out with a heightened intensity level and kept it up for the entire night.

The result was a frustrated O. Perry Walker offense as the Roneagles topped the Chargers 70-61 at O.P. Walker on Tuesday to create a tie between the teams at the top of the district.

George Brock led the Roneagles with 21 points and added four rebounds, three assists and three steals. Brock picked up two early fouls in the school’s first meeting this season, a two-point Chargers victory, and said it felt to give O.P. Walker a loss on its home court.

“We should have beat them at home but we didn’t start out very well,” Brock said. “I knew I couldn’t get in foul trouble here. I was hitting on all cylinders tonight because I was trying to get us a win.”

With the victory, McDonogh 35 and O.P. Walker are tied at 7-2 in the district heading into the regular season finale for both teams. The Roneagles will play Helen Cox, who they defeated 60-54 in the first round of district play, and the Chargers will face Karr, who defeated them 49-47 earlier in district. Both games will be played on Thursday.

The Chargers scored the first bucket of the game as senior Darren Millet hit a layup but then McDonogh 35 went on a 19-3 run to set the tone early on. Roneagles guard/forward Noel Jackson, who finished with 19 points and seven rebounds, helped to lead the charge early.

Jackson made a statement early on as his second field goal of the game came off of a steal and Jackson finished it off with a two-handed slam that brought the McDonongh 35 faithful in attendance to their feet.

“We wanted to come out here and handle our business tonight,” Jackson said. “We’re fighting to be first in district so we had to win. We had to come out and put that pressure on them and try to make them turn the ball over.”

McDonogh 35’s defensive pressure didn’t allow O.P. Walker to find any rhythm offensively in the first three quarters as the Roneagles led 51-36 heading into the fourth quarter.

Tyree Griffin finished with 19 points, nine rebounds, six assists, five steals and two blocks while guard Anthony Milton added 14 points for the Chargers but it wasn’t enough to get the job done.

Now, both teams are going to playing for a chance at a one-game playoff if each can pick up victories.

“This is how it usually goes in this district,” McDonogh 35 Coach Kevin Sanders said. “Karr and Cox are right behind us their in second place. Thursday is going to be a pretty pivotal night.”

O.P. Walker Coach Brian Gibson said it wasn’t one thing that his team didn’t do well but instead he said McDonogh 35 just came out and played like “the better team.”

“(McDonogh 35) came out and played great tonight,” Gibson said. “They did everything right tonight. We have to go back to the drawing board and we have to play harder. They outworked us tonight. It’s very difficult to play from behind like that. You have to exert so much energy trying to catch up.”